I Just Saw the Coolest Thing Ever

The other day NYU put a flier in our mailboxes for Soirée du Centenaire de la Musique de Film à New York University in France with a notice that said "seating is extremely limited. RSVP immediately".  After getting the note, I subsequently forgot to RSVP until this afternoon when a friend reminded me that the event was tonight.  When I asked if there was any room left, Raissa, the woman in charge of cultural events, said that they were all full but I should come anyways because chances were, they would have a couple of empty seats.

So, I dragged my friend along with me and sure enough, when we got there, there were a couple of empty rows.  We didn't really know what to expect, but what I had gathered from the invitation (written in French) we were celebrating the 100th anniversary of film music with live performances and a movie.  Turns out there 3 different music groups playing music from different movies.  We started off watching the 18 minute film L'assasinat du Duc de Guise, a French silent film made in 1908.  A wind quintet and a strings quartet played the musical score for the film while we watched it.  It was really really cool.  After that, the string quartet played Lullaby by George Gershwin and the the wind quintet played the scores for An American in Paris and The Mission.  When they were finished, a jazz quintet played the scores of Claire de Lune, Les Parapuies de Cherbourg, Les Demoiselles de Rochefort, and Les Valseuses.  For the finale, all 16 musicians played Amour et Printemps and the concert was followed by wine and finger foods.  

It was a really amazing performance and the first time that I have ever experienced a movie with a live orchestra.  I definitely recommend it if anyone ever gets a chance to see anything like this.  It was the perfect way to end my first day of school!